Leading flavor company gears up for its 100th
anniversary with an expanded leadership team and ambitious growth
plan
Leading flavor company Torani has flourished under the
leadership of CEO Melanie Dulbecco for over three decades,
recording a 20% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the past 33
years and an employee tenure rate 53% higher than the national
average.
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With Torani approaching its 100th
anniversary in 2025, CEO Melanie Dulbecco is building additional
leadership capacity by appointing Tai Doong as President. (Photo:
Business Wire)
With Torani approaching its 100th anniversary in 2025 and
surpassing $500 million in annual revenue, the company is set on
doubling this figure to $1 billion by 2030. To support this
significant growth plan, Torani is building additional leadership
capacity by appointing Tai Doong as President.
This expansion marks a major milestone as Torani – which holds
the unusual position of being a privately held company that has
successfully scaled to $500 million in annual revenue without going
public – continues to scale, push the envelope as a leading flavor
innovator, and expand its social impact.
A “People-First” Leader for Three Decades and
Counting
When Melanie Dulbecco joined Torani in 1991, shortly after
graduating from Stanford Business School, the company was based in
San Francisco’s then economically challenged Bayview-Hunters Point
neighborhood, with just eight people and an annual revenue of less
than $1 million. As the first CEO from outside the founding family,
Dulbecco saw tremendous opportunity to create new jobs in the
neighborhood while building strategies for Torani’s expansion.
Since then, she has led Torani through multiple eras of growth and
hired hundreds of team members from across the San Francisco Bay
Area. Despite outgrowing numerous facilities, the company has
remained devoted to staying in the region. Since 2020, Torani’s
team of over 400 employees has operated out of a state-of-the-art
“flavor factory” and headquarters in San Leandro, CA.
With female CEOs averaging 6.3 years in the role, Dulbecco has
bucked more than just this trend; she holds the rare distinction of
successfully transitioning a small company into a fiercely
independent, large mid-market company. In addition to this
extraordinary growth, Torani has built a radical “people-first”
culture under Dulbecco’s leadership, backed by the fact that the
company has never laid off an employee in its 99-year history.
Throughout Dulbecco's tenure, she has maintained a relentless
focus on building opportunity-driven practices that enable Torani
team members to thrive. This includes “Contribution Management” and
“Career Mixology,” programs that provide employees agency over
their growth, career, and income trajectories; an employee stock
ownership plan (ESOP), giving every team member from the production
line to the C-suite ownership in the growing company; and “Automate
and Elevate,” an upskilling approach that retains every employee
during process automation efforts while simultaneously providing
career advancement opportunities.
“Building an ‘opportunity company’ that creates stepping stones
for people to really make it – both economically and through
learning and development – has been a huge driver in Torani’s
success. We're proving that an everyday company can be a force for
good, and gearing up for our second century and next phase of
growth,” said Dulbecco. “I can’t think of a better person to help
lead Torani than Tai Doong. His unique background paired with a
passion for developing leaders and creating opportunities couldn’t
be more aligned with our values and ambitious goals.”
A New Era: Introducing Torani’s Expanded Leadership
Team
As Torani looks ahead to its centennial in 2025, Dulbecco has
appointed her longtime colleague and strategic collaborator, Tai
Doong, as President.
Doong has been with Torani for nine years, previously serving as
the company’s Chief Marketing Activist before transitioning to
President. Prior to joining Torani, Doong acquired over two decades
of high-level marketing and operations experience at companies
including Proctor & Gamble, Intuit, Del Monte, and Mars. Born
in Taiwan, Doong became a U.S. citizen in the 1980s. He holds a
Bachelor of Science (BS) in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Business
Administration (MBA) from the University of California, Davis.
Doong has been instrumental in some of Torani’s most pivotal
moments in recent years, including driving the company’s
accelerated growth through the COVID-19 pandemic. While many
companies closed their doors, Doong spearheaded efforts to bring
new Torani consumers into the fold by making cafe-quality, on-trend
drinks at home. Thanks to Doong’s strategic agility and leadership,
Torani's consumer business doubled across channels by the end of
2021.
For nearly a decade, much of Doong's focus at Torani has aligned
with his passion: coaching and developing leaders into their
expanding roles and creating opportunities for all team members as
the company scales.
“At Torani, one of our mantras is ‘grow baby, grow,’” said
Doong. "This not only applies to our growth as a company, which has
been trending upwards for decades, but it's also about growth for
every one of our team members, customers, and partners. The
learning agility and growth mindset are fierce at Torani. I’m
honored and excited to help lead the company into its next century
in this new role as President.”
Looking Ahead: Flavor and Business Innovation for 100 Years
and Counting
After 99 years in business, Torani has quite a few achievements
under its belt. On the flavor front, the company is credited with
popularizing the Italian soda in the U.S. in the 1920s, creating
the world’s first flavored latte in the 1980s, and launching its
“Flavor of the Year” campaign in 2021, which introduces
trendsetting, globally-inspired flavors to consumers each year.
Ahead of its 100th anniversary in 2025, Torani will launch a
special edition of this annual campaign called “Flavor of the
Century.” On the business front, what began in 1925 as a small
family business in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood has
grown into a global company led by its values and dedication to
putting people first.
Torani products can be found today in over 8 million households
across the globe. It is the leading consumer brand, the top brand
for independent cafes, and is distributed 30 countries across the
globe. Torani’s portfolio includes over 150 unique flavors with
on-trend options that make roughly 6 million drinks each day. To
further bolster its growth, Torani is expanding its San Leandro, CA
headquarters, which will soon double in size to exceed 630,000
square feet – making it not only one of the few remaining food and
beverage manufacturers in the San Francisco Bay Area, but also one
of the fastest growing.
About Torani
Torani is deeply committed to being an amazing flavor company
whose purpose is “flavor for all, opportunity for all.” Established
in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood in 1925, Torani put
Italian sodas on the U.S. map in the 1920s and created the world's
first flavored latte in the 1980s. From the beginning, the company
has used only the best ingredients, like natural flavors and pure
cane sugar, to craft flavors that are vibrant and delicious.
Enjoyed in cafes, restaurants, and home kitchens around the world,
Torani strives to inspire and lead flavor innovation globally while
remaining a family-owned Bay Area business. In practice and life
beyond the bottle, Torani is a certified B-Corp that believes
businesses should create more opportunity, and is dedicated to
helping all the people, partners, and communities it touches
thrive. Learn more at torani.com.
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Lauren Trieschmann ltrieschmann@double-forte.com